Linguistic Justice: the impact of interpretation in court cases

Every party and witness has the right to use the Welsh language in court under the Welsh Language Act 1993. 
 
This right has led to an increase in demand for simultaneous interpretation services in courts across Wales. 
 
In light of this, how do we ensure fairness and consistency in a legal context? What is the impact of simultaneous interpretation on listeners in court, including jurors, judges, lawyers, and the witnesses themselves? What influence do factors such as the interpreter’s location in the courtroom and their linguistic choices have? And are any changes needed to improve the experience for everyone? 
 
These are some of the questions that have focused the attention of researchers at Aberystwyth University in recent years and have led to the development of practical recommendations to strengthen and improve the current system. 
 
Dr Rhianedd Jewell, Head of the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, co-leads the research: 
 
“It is essential that defendants, witnesses and others have the right to speak Welsh in our courts, and simultaneous interpreters are a vital part of this process. But it is crucial that we fully understand the impact and significance of that interpretation, especially in court cases where far-reaching decisions can be made that change lives. Interpretation must always be used in the best possible way to ensure fairness and justice for those who choose to use Welsh, and for the interpreters themselves who provide the service. 
 
“Our research aims to address these issues from legal, linguistic, and psychological perspectives and, based on our studies, suggests improvements such as specific training for jurors, lawyers, defendants, witnesses, and others involved in the Welsh court system. 
 
“We need to bear in mind that it’s not only the grammatical meaning of words that creates an impression on jurors or judges in court cases. Emotion, syntax, and voice intonation can also be key factors. How do these affect the experience of listeners? And what is the impact if a woman is giving evidence while the interpreter is a man? There are many questions that need to be considered.”

Forum Theatre

As part of their study into the specific challenges associated with simultaneous interpretation in the courtroom, the academics recreated the experience of being part of a bilingual court case using forum theatre techniques.

Dr Catrin Fflur Huws, lecturer in the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University until August 2025, explains the methodology:

“Forum theatre is a technique developed by the late Augusto Boal, an academic from Brazil. It is a method that gives voice to those who are affected by the law, and is a means of exploring the implications of specific legislation. We used it to explore the experiences of those who provide and use interpretation services in court. It creates an atmosphere that enables participants to feel more comfortable and express their opinions and responses to the situation naturally, openly and honestly.

“To recreate the conditions and circumstances of a courtroom, we used professional interpreters and lawyers with experience of working in Welsh courts. We also arranged for professional actors to play the roles of witnesses and for members of the public to form the jury. The jurors included men and women, some Welsh speakers and others non-Welsh speakers.”

The workshops were held at the Justice Centre in Aberystwyth and the Temple of Peace in Cardiff in 2024, led by a theatre director who encouraged discussion and comments from participants.

Statements of evidence for fictional cases were prepared for both parties, with one a Welsh speaker and the other a non-Welsh speaker.

A series of seminars was also held during the project, bringing together academics, lawyers, interpreters, and members of the public to experience and jointly discuss different aspects of bilingual court case experiences.

Recommendations

The research has already led to a series of recommendations to improve how bilingual court hearings are organized, including:

• increasing training opportunities available to interpreters, clerks, lawyers, and others working in the courts. In particular, the training already offered in Wales provides a valuable model for interpreter training in other jurisdictions.

• developing specific training for jury members. The theatre workshop highlighted how challenging the jury’s experience can be as they listen to both the live court case and the simultaneous interpretation. This active listening requires a special skill, say the researchers, and it is essential that jurors are prepared for this before the case. Currently, no specific training is offered to jurors on the requirements of simultaneous interpretation.

• consideration of the interpreter’s location in the courtroom, including using a booth or screen so that the interpreter is not visible. If the interpreter is not visible, jurors, magistrates, and lawyers cannot observe the interpreter’s body language and are free to respond instead to the defendant’s body language. The interpreter can also focus more fully on the expression and tone of the language, without worrying about the impact of their appearance or physical presence on the court case.

• taking into account the gender of the interpreter. There are no rules regarding the gender similarity between the interpreter and the person being interpreted in court cases, so female interpreters can interpret the words of men and male interpreters can interpret the words of women. Although this is also the practice in other interpretation contexts such as meetings and conferences, it must be considered whether this difference is more significant in the courtroom, especially in cases of violence or abuse where the gender of the defendant may be more significant.

• ensuring that single-ear headphones are used so that it is possible to listen to both the original voice and the interpretation. Judges usually already use this type of flexible headphones.

The researchers’ recommendations will be shared with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.

Psychology

The research also explored the psychological side of interpretation in court cases.

Dr Hanna Binks from the Department of Psychology at Aberystwyth University said: “We were able to utilize psychological research methods to measure the differences in responses by the participants.”

Consecutive Interpretation

Simultaneous interpretation is the method used in Wales for bilingual court cases, where the interpreter listens and translates at the same time.

However, in collaboration with academics at Trinity College Dublin, the research team also looked at the situation in Ireland where an individual speaks in the original language and the interpreter translates after they finish.

In March 2024, a special seminar was held in Dublin looking at bilingualism and how evidence is presented in more than one language in court. A further seminar built on these discussions in a joint session in October 2024 focusing on the statutory situation in Wales and Ireland regarding the administration of law and bilingual rights in the courts.

Dr Catrin Fflur Huws said: “We want to contribute to a situation where no language is prioritised in the justice system and everyone is treated fairly, whatever language they choose to speak in court. It must be remembered that the situation in Wales is much better than in many other countries and only trained interpreters can work in our courts. Bearing this in mind and through implementing our recommendations, this is a field where Welsh can innovate and lead good practice in the UK and beyond in conducting bilingual or multilingual court cases.”

Dr Jewell added: “Further research is needed in this field because we see that understanding the process and significance of simultaneous interpretation can make a big difference to defendants, jurors, and the interpreters themselves. Only by developing a better understanding of the impact of simultaneous interpretation can equal linguistic rights be ensured in Welsh courts and a fair bilingual future for Wales.”

Funders

The research on the impact of simultaneous interpretation in court cases in Wales was funded by the British Academy. A networking grant was received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), towards the work of comparing simultaneous interpretation in Wales with consecutive interpretation in Ireland. The initial pilot project was supported by the University Research Fund in 2020 and in 2023, and by the Socio-Legal Studies Association in 2024.

Further Information
https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/publications/cyfieithu-cyfiawn-cyfieithu-ar-y-pryd-yn-llysoedd-cymru 

https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/publications/simultaneous-interpretation-in-interpreter-mediated-remote-legal- 

Research profile of Dr Rhianedd Jewell: https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/persons/rhianedd-jewell 

Research profile of Dr Catrin Fflur Huws: https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/persons/catrin-fflur-huws 

Research profile of Dr Hanna Binks: https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/persons/hanna-binks 

Department of Law and Criminology: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/lac/ 

Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/cymraeg/